Find all the good stuff out there & crack a smile here and now:
Life is good!
Keep the following quotes in mind when thinking "food" :)
"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast."
"You don't need a silver fork to eat good food."
"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."
"We all eat, an it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly."
"If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him...the people who give you their food give you their heart."
Lentil Chili
½ kg lentils (washed and checked for stones)
2-3 cubes Maggi bouillon (chicken or beef flavor, or if want spicy use the Chipotle ones or mix 'em)
1.75 liters of water or so (if starts to boil too much away, add little more as needed when cooking)
If you've got any of those little boxes of tomato condimente sauce you can put one of those in too, (or if you like ;-) add salsa casera.
Large onion chopped
Carrots halved and sliced (about 3)
Celery diced or sliced.
Tomato 2 chopped up (can take out seeds)
Garlic-fresh or powder (as much as you like for flavor)
Cumin powder,add quite a bit (1-1.5 big spoon).
Bring it all to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 35-45 minutes until lentils are tender cooked.
You can also add some diced potato if you have them. There is really no wrong way to cook them. No real recipe, that's why I call it "Come-see" or "Go-look,"
It is all luck of the pot or cook's choice.
Home made salsa - Salsa casera - Ingredients
1 can (28 ounce) whole tomatoes with juice
2 cans (10 ounce) Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies)
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeño, quartered and sliced thin
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp.salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 c. cilantro (more to taste!)
1/2 whole lime juice
Directions
Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like—I do about 10 to 15 pulses.
Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or cheese nachos.
Fermented Mixed Vegetables Ingredients:
1/2 small cauliflower
1/4 to 1/2 head of cabbage (red or white)
2 carrots
1 small beetroot (optional)
1 small celeriac
A few celery leaves
2-3 small green/unripe tomatoes (optional)
1L spring water
40 grams non-iodized salt (kosher, sea salt, or Himalayan pink salt)
2-3 teaspoons mixed spices (mustard seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, optional: juniper berries, cloves, bay leaves, chili or red pepper flakes, allspice berries)
Directions:
Clean and sterilize two 1L mason jars.
Prepare the vegetables: peel, wash, drain, and cut into smaller pieces or desired shapes.
Fill each jar with a mix of vegetables, ensuring they are well-stuffed and submerged.
Make the brine by mixing water, salt, and spices until the salt dissolves completely.
Pour the brine over the vegetables, ensuring they are fully covered.
Cover the jars with lids loosely to allow gases to escape.
Let the jars sit at room temperature, checking and pressing down the vegetables occasionally.
After 5-7 days, taste the vegetables and, if satisfied, store the jars in the fridge.
Prep Time: 30 minutes | Fermentation Time: 5-7 days | Total Time: 5-7 days + 30 minutes
Raspberry sorbet is a refreshing and delicious frozen dessert made primarily from fresh raspberries, sugar, and water. It's a popular choice, especially during the hot summer months, as it offers a delightful balance of sweetness and tanginess. Raspberry sorbet is also a great option for those who prefer dairy-free or vegan desserts since it doesn't contain any milk or cream.
The basic process of making raspberry sorbet involves pureeing or blending fresh raspberries with sugar and water until you achieve a smooth and homogeneous mixture. The mixture is then churned in an ice cream maker to incorporate air and create a smooth texture. Finally, it's frozen until firm enough to be scooped and served.
Here's a simple recipe for making raspberry sorbet:
Ingredients: 3 cups fresh raspberries 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup water 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional, but adds a nice zing)
Instructions:
Rinse the fresh raspberries under cold water and remove any stems or leaves. In a blender or food processor, combine the raspberries, sugar, and water (add lemon juice if desired). Blend until the mixture is smooth and the sugar is completely dissolved. Taste the mixture and adjust the sweetness or tartness by adding more sugar or lemon juice if needed. Pour the raspberry mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. This usually takes about 20-25 minutes. Transfer the churned sorbet into an airtight container and freeze for an additional 2-4 hours to firm up. Once the sorbet is firm enough, scoop it into serving dishes or cones and enjoy!
Remember to let the sorbet sit at room temperature for a few minutes before scooping, as it can become quite firm in the freezer. Additionally, you can garnish the raspberry sorbet with fresh mint leaves or extra raspberries for an extra touch of flavor and presentation.
Enjoy this delightful and refreshing raspberry sorbet as a light and satisfying dessert or as a palate cleanser between courses during a meal!
Al pastor (from Spanish, "shepherd style"), also known as tacos al pastor, is a taco made with spit-grilled pork. Cooking method is based on the lamb shawarma brought by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico, al pastor features a flavor palate that uses traditional Mexican marinade adobada. It is a popular street food that has spread to the United States. In some places of northern Mexico and coastal Mexico, such as in Baja California, Mexico, it is known as taco de trompo or taco de adobada. A similar dish from Puebla that uses a combination of middle eastern spices and indigenous central Mexican ingredients is called tacos árabes.
During the 19th century, variations of a vertically-grilled meat dish, now known by several names, started to spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. A wave of Lebanese immigrants to Mexico, mainly Christians such as the Maronites who have no religious dietary restrictions on eating pork, arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and introduced the Lebanese version, shawarma.
In the 1960s, Mexican-born progeny of these immigrants began opening their own restaurants and combining their heritage with Mexican cuisine. Being derived from shawarma, it is also similar to the Turkish döner kebab and the Greek gyros.
Boxed mixes are great, but everything needed to make delicious pancakes already sits in our kitchen. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you will need (the full recipe with ingredient amounts is shared in the recipe below):
Flour: Use all-purpose flour or whole wheat. A combination of the both is nice, too. For pancakes without all-purpose flour, use your favorite gluten-free flour blend or try buckwheat flour (here is our buckwheat pancake recipe for you to take a look at).
Sugar: We use granulated sugar, but you could experiment with brown sugar. Brown sugar will make them a little moister.
Baking Powder: Baking powder makes them light and fluffy. If you’d like to make pancakes without baking powder, I’ve shared tips in the frequently asked questions below.
Salt: We like to use 3/4 teaspoon of coarse salt (or 1/2 teaspoon of fine salt). It balances the sugar nicely and brings out lots of flavor in the pancakes. If you are using salted butter, you may want to reduce this.
Milk: We usually stick to reduced-fat milk, since that’s what we have in the fridge, but whole milk or skim milk will work, too. For pancakes without dairy milk, substitute non-dairy milk (like unsweetened almond milk or homemade oat milk).
I’ve also used orange juice in place of the milk before and it worked nicely. For buttermilk pancakes, take a look at our Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes recipe.
Melted Butter: You can’t beat the taste of butter for this, but we’ve found that melted coconut oil is delicious. We use unsalted butter, but salted butter will work as a substitute. If you do use salted butter, you might want to reduce the amount of salt called for in the recipe below. For pancakes without butter, substitute melted coconut oil.
One Egg: The egg adds structure and helps with how light and fluffy they become. I’ve shared tips in the frequently asked questions below for making pancakes without egg. (You might also enjoy our recipe for vegan pancakes)
Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds sweetness and depth of flavor. You could try other extracts, too. Almond extract would be pretty delicious.
These simple pancakes come together fast! They are perfect for kids (if you scroll through the reviews so many our of readers makes these with their kids and sometimes the kids even make them!) To make them, follow these easy steps:
Shakshuka: a fully pan cooked tomato casserole with sunken, poached eggs. Because we don't live on the Mediterranean Sea, I prefer to use canned tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes. They always have the perfect degree of ripeness and cost less.
Shakshuka has been on everyone's lips in recent years, mainly thanks to the Israeli version of celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi. Actually, however, Tunisian or Moroccan Jews brought it there from their homeland. This is also indicated by the name: Shakshuka simply means "mixture" in North African Maghreb Arabic - because it is a stew with dozens of different interpretations.
As is so often the case with "Cooking without Cash", you can hardly go wrong with the preparation and let your creativity run free. Roughly chop the onions, garlic and chilli pepper. If you don't like it that spicy, remove the kernels and core of the pod and only take half a pod.
Then sweat everything in the pan with plenty of oil on medium heat for a few minutes. Meanwhile, chop the peppers. When the onions are translucent, add the spices and peppers and fry everything for another three to four minutes. Pluck the leaves of the herbs from the stems. Chop the stalks and add them to the pan, put the leaves aside as a garnish for the end. Now add the two cans of tomatoes to the pan and reduce everything together on a medium flame for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir regularly and do not close the pan completely with a lid so that the moisture can escape and the sauce thickens to the desired consistency. The rule of thumb is: if you can make small hollows in the sauce with a spoon that don't fill up again, we're happy.
Because then the eggs can be cracked open in the hollows. For the optical effect, you can pull the egg white a little with a fork into the tomato sauce. Then let it simmer until the egg white is completely set, but the egg yolks are still a bit soft. Now just sprinkle the parsley over the pan and put it on the table. Shakshuka is most delicious when you tear up some bread and use it to spoon everything straight out of the pan. Buen provecho - enjoy your meal!
Shopping list for two hungry people: 800 grams of canned tomatoes, 1 chilli pepper, 1/2 bunch of parsley or coriander, 1 onion, 2 small peppers, 4 eggs, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of paprika, oil for frying. As a side dish and cutlery replacement, some white or flat bread
Peanut Butter Garlic Noodles - this recipe is really incredibly easy.
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan - it is important that the saucepan is large because all the ingredients will be mixed in it later.
Grate, press or finely chop garlic and ginger and mix with the remaining ingredients of the sauce (peanut butter, vinegar, oil, honey, soy and chilli sauce and water). Please do not use a hand blender, otherwise the delicious peanut pieces will be lost. If the sauce is still too thick, just add some pasta water later.
Wash carrots, peppers and cucumber; Core the bell pepper and cucumber. Cut everything into strips about five centimeters long and one centimeter wide. It is even easier with a grater, but then later the crisp element is missing. Wash the spring onions, cut diagonally into strips and prepare them for the garnish.
Then cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
When the pasta is ready, you pour it off and catch some of the cooking water. Then put the pasta with the peanut butter sauce and the vegetable strips back in the pot and stir briefly. Nothing should be cooked anymore, just mixed in so that the sauce surrounds the pasta and absorbs some heat. If the peanut paste is still stubborn, everything can be diluted with some collected pasta water if necessary.
What do you need for two servings?
200 grams long, dried durum wheat pasta, e.g. B. Linguine or spaghetti - or 400 grams of fresh udon noodles
2 small carrots
1/2 cucumber
1 red or yellow pepper
For the sauce:
4 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter with bits
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of oil (preferably sesame oil)
2 tablespoons of vinegar (rice vinegar is best)
2 tablespoons chili sauce (more Sriracha than Tabasco)
2 tablespoons of water
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 tablespoon of honey, agave syrup or sugar
For the set:
2 spring onions
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1/2 lime
Then arrange on a plate, garnish with spring onions, lime and sesame seeds and enjoy immediately - before the noodles have swallowed all of the sauce.
Mexicans are known for having an incredible culinary tradition. It has something for everyone: street food, tacos, pan de dulce, tamales, chocolate, pulque, and more.
However, for those with a sweet tooth, Mexico has a wide variety of desserts such as flan, jericallas, nieves, tres leches cake, yet one of the most popular desserts is Mexican rice pudding, known as "arroz con leche."
This simple and delicious dish was brought to Mexico by Spanish colonizers and quickly became popular among locals.
If you have never tried "arroz con leche," this is the perfect season to make it. You will need ingredients you probably have in your pantry:
Recipes vary from region to region; for example, in Mexico City, rice pudding is used to make "atole," a warn and delicious beverage that often accompanies tamales.
In Valtierrilla, Guanajuato, "arroz con leche" is placed in the Day of the Dead altars. Cooks add "piloncillo," and orange tree leaves for flavor.
In Jalisco, rice pudding is a must during lent; however, local use lime or orange zest instead of cinnamon.
In Oaxaca, people pair Mexican rice pudding with sweet chickpeas.
In Tabasco and Chiapas, people eat rice pudding for breakfast or dinner.
This is NOT what we got from Twitter back so far. We appealed the unjustified, out of the blue, account suspension about 2.5 month ago. So far we got noting back from them besides 2 bot-generated stupid auto-mails telling you nothing. We been, as loyal users of many years good to be part of what made them big, now we get screwed from them. Sounds like all the others (ie Tumblr) changing against their users for some profit we guess.
Wondering when the announcement comes that there is a paid version of Twitter available we should join..... We have joined Mastodon in the meantime. Join out stream here....
Guide to the best late night food in Mexico City. Starting the night off with some of Mexico’s biggest tortas at Muertortas, before hitting La Bota for a feast of wine, cheese, cured meat, sausages, fried bacon, and more. Then head to Taco Bar to learn about gold root and how to make an Aperol Spritz. End the tour of Mexico City's late night dining with cocktails and chayote tacos.
Combine the cheese, vinegar, salt, chili flakes, sun dried tomatoes and their oil, tomato paste, and garlic in a food processor and purée until almost smooth. Makes 1 ¾ cups.
2. Bring a large saucepan of generously salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain, reserving ¾ cup|190 ml cooking liquid.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low. Add the pesto and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pesto has darkened slightly in color, about 10 minutes. Add the pasta and cooking liquid and cook until glossy. Season with salt and pepper and divide among plates. Serve with more parmesan cheese on top.
¾ cup/88 grams grated parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
¼ cup/60 ml red wine vinegar
¾ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste ½ teaspoon chili flakes
1 (7.9-ounce/225 gram) jar sun dried tomatoes
1 (4.5-ounce/130-gram) tube tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, peeled
¼ cup/60 ml olive oil
1 pound/450 grams mezze maniche rigate or penne rigate
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Purée all of the ingredients in the bowl of a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Salsa will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 days.
Ingredients:
⅔ cup / 30 grams roughly chopped cilantro leaves
4 tomatillos, husks removed and washed (about 8 ounces|225 grams)
3 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno, stemmed
1 lime, juiced (about 3 tablespoons juice)
1 medium avocado, halved, peeled, and pitted
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Mole negro is one of the most complex and mysterious of all the Oaxacan Mexican food dishes. There’s such a huge mix of random ingredients in the dish, and no one knows for sure how it was invented or how it came about - there are only legends. Oaxacan mole negro, is supreme.
The sauce so rich, chocolatey, and you can taste all the random ingredients in it - the nuts and dried fruit. It’s deliciously complex.
3D printing chocolate has been a dream forever, but finally the future is here. It's a neat concept. It works by a stepper motorrotating 2 gears that generates pressure to move the liquid chocolate down through a nozzle. You place a bunch of chocolate inside the tank and let it melt by a heating element connected to the hotend of the 3D printer.
This video was recorded during a 6 month period, obviously I did have a lot of problems with the chocolate extruder. However, I do want to say that if you think this is a really interesting subject and would like to buy an extruder kit, keep in mind that most chocolates probably will not work.
Now you can make Martha Stewart's animal gingerbread cookies at home! Here's the full recipe:
Animal Gingerbread Cookies
Makes about fifty-eight 3- to 4-inch cookies
5 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 ½ cups unsulfured molasses
Brown and black gel paste food coloring
4 cups Royal Icing (recipe included)
Fine sanding and pearl sugars, for decorating
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then molasses. Gradually add flour mixture and mix on low until just combined. Shape dough into 3 disks, and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm but still pliable, about 1 hour.
Working with one disk of dough at a time, roll out to 1/4‑inch thickness on generously floured parchment. Brush off excess flour, transfer dough on parchment to a baking sheet, and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters, rerolling scraps as needed. Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies until edges turn golden, about 15 minutes, rotating once and firmly rapping baking sheet halfway through to flatten any bubbles. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies cool completely.
Divide icing into batches, and mix in a different shade of food coloring to each to tint. Transfer brown and white royal icing to two pastry bags fitted with small round tips (Ateco #1 or #2). Flood cookies with icing, using dark brown for reindeer, light brown for foxes, and white for sheep, cows, and polar bears. Sprinkle white cookies with sanding sugar for polar bears, and pearl sugar for sheep. Tap off excess. Let icing set at room temperature overnight.
Add confectioners’ sugar, one tablespoon at a time, to reach consistency of toothpaste. Tint with desired gel-paste food coloring (black for eyes, shades of browns for spots and fur). Transfer to pastry bags fitted with small round tips or a closed star tip (Ateco #13) for foxes. Decorate as desired. Let set overnight. (Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.)
Royal Icing
Makes about 2 cups
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted, plus more if needed
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon meringue powder
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on low, beat confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and scant 1/2 cup water until smooth and opaque white, about 7 minutes. If icing is too thick, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, beating until icing has the consistency of glue; if too thin, continue beating icing 2 to 3 minutes more, or add more sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Use immediately, or refrigerate in an airtight container up to 1 week; stir well with a flexible spatula before using.
VARIATION
To color the royal icing, add gel-paste food coloring, a drop or a dab at a time with a toothpick, and blend well before adding more, until desired color is reached.
This classic Hawaiian dish is similar to Japanese hambāgu, a ground beef patty topped with a ketchup-based sauce, but loco moco is heartier, served atop a pile of white rice, smothered with caramelized onion gravy and topped with a fried egg.
People in Hawaii enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or any time in between.
